Shows you didn't think you would like but did

What shows did you think you weren't going to like, but ended up liking?

When Bizarre Foods was first being advertised, I thought it looked like a typical Grossout Show, so I avoided it for a long time, but once I saw an episode, I thought it was fascinating. Same thing goes for Dirty Jobs.

edited 1st Jul '12 5:08:55 PM by cfive

Who Wants to be a Superhero. I thought it would be embarrassingly corny; instead it was just corny enough to work.

Sherlock. I read about it, saw pictures and hated it. Even said so on the Shows You Should Like But Don't thread. Then I saw a clip, heard the music, and the eponymous characters voice, and fell in love.

The remake of Survivors, because I usually don't like the very idea of remakes. But the portayal of Tom Price really won me over; it's rare to see an authentic sociopath. I was skeptical about Falling Skies because I expected flag waving patriotism due to Spielberg. Really got to love the show though.

Hart of Dixie.

First to one to say anything gets his teeth in a bag...

x4 Ditto, wish it had run longer. Also Beauty And The Geek.

edited 5th Jul '12 2:07:13 PM by tricksterson

Falling Skies. I was expecting it to be GRIMDARK and totally cynical and pessimistic, which I don't like in my escapist fiction. But it's absolutely fantastic! I love it.

The Nanny. I still remember seeing commercials from the 90s, and thinking it looked stupid. But I got into it a few years ago when I was in a Jeopardy phase (well, second phase (long story).), and there was an episode where Fran goes on Jeopardy! and wins.

edited 3rd Jul '12 5:38:48 PM by Premonition45

The US version of The Office. I thought it would be a botched remake that completely missed the point of the original, but it turned out to be an original and enjoyable show in its own right. That's why I find flamewars over which version is better so pointless; it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Recent example: Bunheads. Wasn't sure that I would like a show about ballet, decided to give it a shot because it was by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who created Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite sows of all time (for the first five seasons anyway) and lo and behold it lived up to the snarky, quirkiness of it's predecessor.

edited 5th Jul '12 2:06:41 PM by tricksterson

Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It was on the WB after everything interesting was over and it had a stupid name, and it was cheesy, and buffy is a stupid name, and it was about a cheerleader or something, and it was obviously stupid. Also Angel was this show about this angel who had been sent down from heaven to protect people, or something vaguely religious that way

Then I was forcefed Firefly around the same time Dr Horrible came out. I fell into Whedon's thrall and the rest is history.

edited 10th Jul '12 10:05:44 PM by NowhereMan

I second everybody's choices. Yeah even The Nanny.

Smallville had Christopher Reeve on, or so the promos claimed. Actually they ran those stupid promos for a month before he turned up, so I was duly suckered into watching a whole season. (It was probably during the summer hiatus, when the reruns just kept teasing Reeve until they re-aired his episodes) Good stuff.

I'm not a fan of the Metropolis years, though. Very retro and cheesy.

edited 10th Jul '12 11:10:23 PM by johnnyfog

That's basically my story with Angel too. which is now my favorite show. All I knew was that it was about a good vampire and they gave reruns of it on [TNT before Charmed, plus the show came out when I was like 6 years old. Then I saw Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog, since NPH and Felicia Day were in it, loved it, and then my teacher from high school insisted I see Firefly. I decided to watch Bt VS and realized the shows were related, so I saw them together, I had no idea how great they would turn out to be. Then I realized how much I loved Sci-Fi and Fantasy series.

I'll just go whole hog and say "Any show I've watched and liked that wasn't a Game Show".

Yeah, I never got exposed to much growing up.

Breaking Bad. The premise sounded forced and I didn't think I'd be able to relate to the characters' problems. Also, I kept hearing about how it was so well-acted, well-written, etc., which not only induced Hype Aversion but made it sound overly heavy. No one mentioned that it was entertaining and often quite funny. Needless to say, I'm completely hooked now.

edited 25th Jul '12 1:48:27 PM by Embryon

LOST: After I watched the pilot get mauled by a giant smoke monster, I thought the show was pretty disturbing and shallow. After about six episodes, however... I still thought the same thing.

But then it became really awesome after that.

edited 25th Jul '12 2:46:13 PM by every108minutes

Twin Peaks. I thought it would be too weird for me, but it wasn't.

Charmed. It looked like chick crap, but I got intrigued by it. This was around 2006, when I was leaving high school/entering college, and the show was wrapping up. Though since delving into their archives, I've come to like the first few seasons with Shannon Doherty more than the rest.

Victorious. Only show on Nickelodeon I watch anymore.

Agreed that Victorious is surprisingly watchable. I would even say the same for iCarly. I have no idea what the Dan Schneider shows do differently, but there's clearly more effort and competence put into them than most Disney Channel sitcoms.

2BrokeGirls was mine. Totally didn't expect that show to float my boat but damn it Kat Dennings can make anything awesome.

Also Big Bang Theory. I don't like all the stereotypes of nerds going on in that series but I find myself watching in spite of myself.

This. They were lucky to score Kat Dennings, because it's a pretty cookie-cutter show otherwise.

Not to derail, but I don't really understand why people get offended up over the "stereotypes" in BBT. What, are nerds a minority group now? I went into it determined to hate it (I hate sitcoms), and couldn't stop snorting whenever Sheldon spoke.

It's not the stereotypes, it's the shallow references, it's the generic writing when it's not namedropping, it's the canned laughter, and it's the fact that somehow, people think actual geeks see this as geek humor.

But I like shallow reference and quote trees.

Then you sound like Chuck Lorre's target audience for that piece of crap.